Children critical after explosion

By Hu Yongqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-16 08:16

Eleven children and a senior citizen severely burned in an explosion at an illegal fireworks workshop are still in critical condition, doctors said Sunday.

Two owners of the workshop are now in police custody on charges of employing child labor and producing dangerous goods without a license, local police said.

The blast occurred about 8 am last Thursday at a private fireworks workshop in Hezhou in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, killing an 8-year-old student at the scene.

A 9-year-old girl died later Thursday in hospital, the Hezhou Work Safety Bureau said. Thirteen more, including a 61-year-old, suffered severe burns.

Among the remaining 12 children, seven were transferred from Hezhou People's Hospital to No 181 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army in Guilin on Saturday.

A doctor surnamed Peng with Hezhou People's Hospital told China Daily that the seven children were seriously injured with more than 70 percent of their skin burned.

Three other injured children were taken to the No 1 Hospital affiliated to the Guangxi Traditional Chinese Medicine University in the regional capital of Nanning Sunday morning, according to Xinhua News Agency.

An 11-year-old child and the senior remained in Guangji Hospital in Hezhou.

A doctor surnamed Huang with Guangji Hospital said they are receiving treatment in the intensive care unit. "If infections happen, they face a life-threatening situation," she said.

The children, aged 7 to 15, are mainly students from Zhiyang Primary School in Yanghui village. The children were paid to make firecrackers at the workshop after school.

Yang Wanwen, one of the owners of the workshop, surrendered to police on Thursday. The other owner, Xie Qingsui, was seized over the weekend after he fled.

Local work safety authorities said the dead and injured children are all "left-behind children" - those cared for by a single parent or by grandparents when their parents go to work in cities.

Yang Youji, the village's Party chief, said about 70 percent of the village's adults have gone to work in places like the booming neighboring Guangdong province.

"Children who stay in the village are attended to by paternal or maternal grandparents, many of whom often fail to educate them well because of their poor physical condition," he was quoted by local media as saying.

China has about 58 million "left-behind children", about a quarter of the total number of rural children. About 40 million are under 14, studies by the All-China Women's Federation and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security show.

It is widely recognized that children of Chinese migrant workers are among the most vulnerable to accidental injury and death, and studies show the safety and education for left-behind children have been a big problem.